The University of California consistently attracts the country's best and brightest, pays those professors well, and rarely sees any of them quit to take another job, a pattern that hasn't changed despite the recession and years of budget cuts, according to a nonpartisan state report released Thursday.

The 10 UC campuses have continued to recruit and retain their first-choice candidates for faculty positions, applicants with doctorates from the country's most selective universities, namely Stanford, Harvard and Yale, according to the Legislative Analyst's Office.

Now it's up to the state Legislature to decide whether to back a UC budget that not only includes raises for those folks, but also funding for a lot more faculty to accommodate increased student enrollment while also reducing faculty-student ratios, the report found.

"We chose this topic because the faculty is central to the university's education and research missions, and there have been concerns about their recruitment/retention due to budget cuts and the recession," said Paul Golaszewski, who prepared the report.

In general, the report painted a flattering picture when it comes to the UC system's ability to hire and keep faculty through the recessions and budget shortfalls over the past decade, in part by maintaining benefits and salary increases through economic downturns.

Currently, the UC system's budget is $22.5 billion, and $2.5 billion comes from the state. The system spends nearly $2 billion in salaries and benefits on its top-notch faculty, which includes about 8,000 full-time and tenured (or tenure-track) teachers and researchers.

Full professors make $80,000 to $146,000 a year - about average for comparable universities. And they get a solid pension and benefits equal to about a quarter of their pay.

It's a desirable job, with only 2 percent of UC faculty resigning each year, a high retention rate, according to the state analysis. Yet among faculty Thursday, there was concern the report painted too rosy of a picture.

The report failed to address, for example, faculty members who are retiring at 55 or as soon as they can, perhaps to take a job with Google, said Bob Powell, chair of the UC Academic Senate.

"You start adding up the amount of money you've invested in the people, the amount of time invested in the people, and then you have to go out and recruit other people," he said. "That's a big loss."

In years past, however, the Legislature has budgeted for the UC system without earmarking money for items such as faculty raises or lower student-faculty ratios. Lawmakers might want to rethink that generic funding model, Golaszewski wrote in his report.

"In light of the many indicators suggesting UC has been successful in its faculty recruitment and retention efforts, the Legislature needs to assess the trade-offs between providing funding for faculty salary increases and other competing budget priorities involving faculty and higher education more generally," the report said.

University officials said retaining high-quality faculty members is critical in attracting grant funds - UC professors bring in an average of $250,000 apiece, they said.

"Although the legislative analyst is correct in noting that we continue to attract and retain top-flight faculty who are the heartbeat of the University of California, quality can never be taken for granted," said Aimee Dorr, university provost. "We have experienced a significant decline in the rate of hiring new faculty in the past few years, which is in direct response to uncertainty over state funding."